Don't Get Fooled — A 12-Week Guide to Thinking Critically About Screens and Ads With an AI Tutor.
Kids meet more ads, clickbait, fake images, and confident-sounding nonsense before breakfast
than past generations saw in a week. This is a done-for-you, 12-week plan for guiding a
10–14-year-old to ask the questions a thoughtful viewer always asks — who made this, why,
is it true, and how do they want me to feel — using an AI tutor that pulls up real
examples and walks them through picking it apart, while you do the leading. You do
not need to be a media expert.
What you get
- A "Never used an AI chat assistant? Start here" onboarding that takes a complete
beginner from zero to ready in about five minutes — a free AI assistant (ChatGPT, Claude,
Copilot, or Gemini all work) is all you need, no paid plan required.
- Four rescue prompts in the front matter for when a session stalls, the learner is
frustrated or bored, the AI gets off track, or an example lands wrong.
- 12 deep weekly sessions, each built to run in about 60 minutes: a plain-language
concept, a concrete worked example, a minute-by-minute session plan, copy/paste AI-tutor
prompts at every step (built around real ads, headlines, and images to examine together),
a "show me" checkpoint so you always know it landed, common mistakes to watch for, and
practice.
- A digital guide — you lead one fully scripted ~60-minute session each week; every
step is timed and every AI prompt is already written for you, so no media, marketing, or
AI expertise is needed.
The 12 weeks
- Every Message Has a Maker — someone made this, on purpose
- Who Made This, and Why? — sell, entertain, inform, or persuade
- Ads in Disguise — sponsored content and product placement
- Clickbait & How It Hooks You
- Is It True? Checking Claims — a simple three-step method
- Real vs Fake Images — filters, edits, and AI-generated pictures
- Opinions Dressed as Facts
- Algorithms & Why You See What You See
- Being Kind & Safe Online
- Project Week I: Plan It (an honest example and a sneaky one)
- Project Week II: Build It
- Demo Day — present, quiz the family, choose what's next
Who it's for
Parents, teachers, and homeschoolers guiding a learner aged roughly 10–14 who is growing up
with a phone or tablet in reach and needs a sharper eye, not a scared one. No media,
marketing, or AI background needed — you lead one fully scripted ~60-minute session each
week, every step timed and every AI prompt written for you, and the AI tutor supplies the
real examples. Never used an AI chat assistant before? The guide's first section walks you
through setup in about five minutes.
Why this instead of a free chatbot
A raw chatbot will happily tell your child "yes that's fake" or "no that's not an ad" —
which hands over the answer instead of building the skill. This pack ships the structure
a chatbot lacks: a real 12-week arc that moves from noticing a maker's intent to spotting
disguised ads, clickbait, fake images, and algorithm-driven feeds; a tutor that shows real
examples and asks before it tells; guardrails that keep every example age-appropriate and
every session ending on "here's how you spot it," not "everything online is lying to you";
and checkpoints that prove your child can catch the trick themselves. Curriculum +
guardrails + a way to see progress. That's the difference.
FAQ
- Do I need to be a media or marketing expert? No. The AI tutor supplies and explains
the examples; you lead. Every session comes with the exact prompt to start it.
- Which AI does it use? What if I've never used one? Any modern AI chat assistant works
— ChatGPT, Claude, Copilot, or Gemini — and the free version of any of them is enough; no
paid plan needed. If you've never used one before, the guide's first section walks you
through setup in about five minutes, so you're ready before Week 1.
- Is my child's data collected? No. This is a digital guide sold to you, the adult.
There's no login and no child account — you start and supervise every AI session yourself,
under your own account.
- What ages? Roughly 10–14. Age-banded variants are on the roadmap.
- Will this make my kid distrustful of everything? No — the goal is a sharper eye, not
suspicion. Every week ends on a concrete "here's the clue," and Week 9 covers kindness and
safety online alongside the skepticism.
- Refunds? Standard marketplace refund policy applies.
Get the whole track
Building out a full kids' curriculum shelf? See the full Kids Shelf bundle
for a better price than buying packs one at a time.